Expert Interviews in Consulting and Private Equity

Introduction

• Heinrich from Firm Learning discusses expert interviews.
• Expert interviews are essential in consulting and other professional services, such as private equity.

Why Expert Interviews are Needed

• Consulting teams often have expertise but rely on multiple perspectives.
• Private equity firms conduct commercial due diligence and need deep insights into target companies.

Types of Experts to Interview

1. Former C-suite and Sales Directors
   • From competitors of the company being analyzed.
   • They have an overall market view.
2. Former Procurement Directors
   • From companies that would be the target company’s customers.
   • Understand buying criteria and competitive positioning.
3. C-level People in the Supply Chain
   • Both tier one and tier two suppliers.
   • Insights into how the company is perceived by its biggest suppliers.

Conducting Successful Interviews

Preparing for Interviews

• End Product in Mind: Know what you will create from the interview insights (often a slide deck).
• Outline/Straw Man: Prepare an outline of the document to know what information is needed.

Questions to Ask

• Heinrich provides a questionnaire cheat sheet with relevant questions.

Behavioral Tips

1. Empathy
   • Understand that interviewees may be new to this and nervous.
   • Create a comfortable conversation environment.
2. Start with General Questions
   • Avoid starting with very detailed questions.
   • Use open-ended questions to ease the interviewee into the conversation.

Finding Experts

Internal Experts

• Utilize the firm’s network (internal expert groups, newsletters).

External Experts

• Expert Networks: Providers that source experts willing to conduct interviews.
  • Multiple networks mean varying processes, which can be cumbersome.

Inex One – Aggregating Expert Networks

• Inex One aggregates various expert networks.
• Founded by a former McKinsey consultant.
• Free to access; you pay only for conducted calls.

Using Inex One

1. Create a New Project
   • Input descriptions, interests, geography, etc.
2. Select Expert Networks
   • Publish the project, experts can apply.
3. Schedule Interviews
   • Manage experts, fees, and scheduling on their platform.

Conclusion

• Heinrich invites viewers to share their interview conduct insights.
• Encourages using Inex One for streamlined expert interviews.
• Promotes engagement through comments, likes, and subscriptions.
• Provides links to socials and cheat sheet in the video description.
• Thanks viewers and sponsors.

Key Takeaways

• Expert interviews are crucial for gathering diverse insights.
• Preparing and conducting interviews effectively can lead to better project outcomes.
• Inex One offers a streamlined solution for finding and scheduling expert interviews.